Miller Financial Services LLC Makes New Investment in The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN)

Miller Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Wendy’s Company (NASDAQ:WEN) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 14,056 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock, valued at approximately $229,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in WEN. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in Wendy’s by 16.9% in the third quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 711,267 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock valued at $12,461,000 after purchasing an additional 102,769 shares during the period. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,733,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wendy’s in the fourth quarter valued at about $357,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in shares of Wendy’s during the fourth quarter worth about $13,358,000. Finally, Quantinno Capital Management LP lifted its stake in shares of Wendy’s by 90.8% in the third quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 109,747 shares of the restaurant operator’s stock worth $1,923,000 after acquiring an additional 52,225 shares during the period. 85.96% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on WEN shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating and set a $14.00 target price (down previously from $22.00) on shares of Wendy’s in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Wendy’s from $15.50 to $16.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 7th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $17.00 price target on shares of Wendy’s in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Wendy’s from $17.00 to $16.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 19th. Finally, Argus raised Wendy’s to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $18.08.

Wendy’s Stock Performance

Shares of WEN stock opened at $15.47 on Wednesday. The Wendy’s Company has a 12 month low of $13.72 and a 12 month high of $20.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.10 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.73. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $15.03 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $16.92. The company has a current ratio of 1.85, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 12.48.

Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 13th. The restaurant operator reported $0.25 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $574.27 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $564.17 million. Wendy’s had a net margin of 8.65% and a return on equity of 75.56%. Analysts forecast that The Wendy’s Company will post 0.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Wendy’s Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 3rd will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 3rd. This represents a $1.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 6.46%. Wendy’s’s payout ratio is 105.26%.

Wendy’s Company Profile

The Wendy’s Co engages in operating, developing, and franchising a system of quick-service restaurants. It offers hamburgers and related products, such as chicken breast sandwiches, nuggets, chili, and baked potatoes, French fries, freshly prepared salads, soft drinks, milk, coffee, frosty deserts, and kid’s meals.